Feeding device for paper-sheet stock



Jan. 13, 1931. P. R. SIMMONS FEEDING DEVICE FOR PAPER SHEET STOCK edAung.

lO, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet l Fil ATToRNEY.

Jan. 13, 1931.' P R, S|MMON5 1,789,160

FEEDINGDEVICE FOR PAPER SHEET STOCK Filed Aug, 10, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2INVEN TOR. fnl/L i?. /MMo/vs.

A TTORNE Y.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR PAPER SHEET STOCK Filed Aug. lo, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet3 Flq. 7

I N VEN TOR. FHI/L S/MMaMS.

SYM my', f90/ww? Patented Jan. 13, 1931 UNITED Sm"i"esr PATENT ornerPAUL R. SIMMONS, 'F MAB-ION, INDIANA, ASSIGNQR T0 INDIANAvFIBRE'PRODUCTS COMPANY, QFQMARXON, lDlNi-! A CORPRATION rnnnms'nnvicn nosrayne-snaar' swoon n Application filedl August 10, 19239.y vSerial No.384,862.

This is a novel machine for feeding'paper sheet stockA from the bottomof a stack Vof said sheets, one or more sheets at a time, to

a machine for forming or treating the same as desired. The particularmachine herein set foi rh has been* made and adapted for feeding fia-tcirculariflexible' paper disks to a machine for pressino them' intopaper dishes and the like. .One object of said `machine is to select bymechanical means the bottom sheet or s heets and separate the same fromthe stock, and to do so satisfactorily, and particularlyrto feed apredetermined'number of sheets from the bottom of the stack at eachoperation of the machine. The object last stated is of importance Wherethe Aforming` machine can treat a plurality of'sheets simultaneously, asis true in making'paper dishes.

One feature of the machine is the provision of a Islotted rotary sheetselectingI disk `"which as it vrotates selects a sheet from the bottomof the stack' as desired, and passes itsadjacent port-ion through Vtheslot andsenarates it from the stack Without dis-V tui-hing the stack.

Another feature consists in providing said disk with an adjustableselecting'- plate so Yas to select tivo or more sheetsiat a timefrom thebottom of the stack.

Anotherfeatureof the invention is the provision of means in connectionWith said separating disk and revolving therewith for depressing theSelected sheet or sheets down and away from the stack after they havebeen selected by said selecting disk. Another feature of the inventionconsists in providing@with the foregoing,A Vrolls for receiving thedisks thus selected anddepressed towards feeding means Afor moving themachine for forming oi` otherwise treat` ing them. i i

'Another feature of this invention consists in providingfeeding Ameansinsuch relation to the selecting vdisk ,that gravity will cooperate with`the machine VinYffeeding the disk .or disks selected to said feedingrolls.

Another feature 'of the invention consists in the Sletns disk.Sup-porties Partially the stack of sheets from which said disk in itsrotation selects one or moresheets atithe bottom of theY stack andseparates them and enables them to be fed vtothe feed'rolls forconveying them to the machine for'treating them thereafter. l i

Another feature of the invention consists in providing means l rotatablewith said ro-' tating disk for engaging and holding the lovvcrsheets inthe stack down vflat on thel selecting disk 'af'herebyit' v vill belenabled to 4select one or'inoresheets as desiredat the bottom Yof thestack at each operation and With certainty. K l"Another feature of Vtheinvention consists' in providing a yielding pusher meansico operatingWithsaid last-mentioned means for keeping Vthe lower sheets of the stackpushed into suitable position on said select# ing fdisk so theV edges ofthe 'few bottom sheets on the Ydisk vvill be substantially terraced, toyenable the selectingdisk to vper,- form its Work With certainty andaccuracy.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying dravvings and the' following description and claims:v f

Fig. 1` is' a side elevationfoflthe machine substantiallyhorizontalsection on" the lino 2`-2 of Fig; l, some parts being omitted. Fig 3 isa l.vertical section through apart of the selecting disk on thelinef3r3`of Fig. 2 showing the selector plate adjusted so as to selectand separate one sheet. Fig. lis the same asvFig. 3 with said selectorplate adjusted so as to select and separate tivosheets. Fig. 5 is partlyin side elevation: and partly )in vertical section of parts of themechanism shown in l in position forseparating and directing theselected sheets to the feed rolls.` Fig. 6 is the same as Fig. 5 intheir position When the selected sheets are being' fed by thefeed'idvanced so as'to show a sheet 'extending throughl the radial slotthereof, parts being in horizontal section and thel magazine casingbeing partly broken away and only the.

bottom disk of the stack being shown in plan view. Fig. 3 is asubstantially vertical transverse section on line 8--8 of Fig. 1.

This feeding machine holds a stack of circular sheets 10 of paper stockandthe purpose of the feeder is to mechanically select at each operationthe lower sheet, or a predetermined number of lower sheets, and separatethem from the stack and convey them to a suitable forming machine havinga die 11 whereby the sheets are pressed into the shape of a dish, plate,pie pan or other desired shape. The invention isV not limited to thetreatment received by the sheets after they have been fed from thestack, as they might be printed or otherwise treated.

VThe magazine for containing the stack ofk circular sheets 10 of paperstock consists of a substantially cylindrical casing 12 with four guiderods 13 extending upward therefrom so that the stack of 'sheets can bebuilt up above the casing 12 if a high stack is desired. Said easing 12has a bottom `external plate 14 and inwardly extending fingers SOadapted to support the rieht hand portion of the stack of sheets and thestack of sheets is also supported at the left hand by resting on thecircular selecting metal disk 15 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Theselecting disk 15 and bottom of the magazine are in substantialalignment with each other andv preferably inclined downward from rightto left to some extent. wall 12 is partially cut away or flattened aty1G as seen in Fig. 1.

Said sheets are kept froin lateral displacement vby two oppositelypositioned fingers 17 secured to the bottom of the casing 12, therebeing one finger 17 on each side of said casing and said lingers areinclined down? wardly and inwardly almost to said rotary selecting disk15.

The selecting disk 15 .is secured on the rotary shaft 20 by a nut 21 andit extends upward through the bearing member 22 on the Hat plate 23which is bolted to the casing 12 where it is cut away vertically at 1G.rl`he shaft 2O is driven by a bevel gear :i4-secured thereon and meshingwith a bevel gear 25 ou the horizontal drive shaft 26, which iscontinuously driven by prockei gear 7T and chain 76 driven by a suitablesource of power, not shown herein. This will cause the selecting disk 15to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, thedirection herein shown being counterclockwise, but it can be rotated ineither direction so far as this invention is concerned.

The selecting disk 15 not only selects at each operation one or morelower sheets 10,V as desired, of the stack, but partially supports thestack of sheets, from which it selectivelyfeeds the sheets, as themachine The casing On the following edge of. said slots theY left handedge of the disk 15, as herein shown, there is mounted an adjustableselector plate or member `31 as seen in Fig. It is shaped in crosssection substantially shown in Figs. 3and4, and the left hand portionthereof is mounted on a shelf 1153 formed by cutting away a portion ofthe upper surface of the disk above said shelf.`

There is also provided in said shelf a substantially radial recess 32concave in cross section in which there is ,mounted a substantiallysimilarly formed convex rib 33 and Vit is secured therein by a pair ofscrews 34 extending through slots-35 in the shelf 115, whereby theangular' relation. of said shelf to said plate 31 with reference to saidselecting disk 15 may be adjusted as shown in Figs. 3Y and 4. Saidselecting plate 31 slopes away rearwardly from said point 3G to Asomeextent as seen in'Fig. 2. The right hand portion of plate 31 is thickerthan the lefthand halfthereof, as appears in- Figs. 3 and 4; that is,theright hand portion is about as thick as the plate 15 and is bevelledon the underside as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. so that said plate 31 willhave a substantially flat upper surface and a retreating bevelled lowersurface as shown.

The purpose of the adjustment of the selecting plate 31 is to so directthe'advance selecting point 36 that it will enter the stack of sheets 10just Aabove the lower sheet, if it be desired to select .the lower sheetonly, at each rotation of said disk 15. But if` it be desired to selectthe two lower sheets, as inFig. 4, the advancing edge of the plate 31and point 36 is tilted upward somewhat. Thus, said advancing point 3Gand the plate 31 can be adjusted'to penetrate the stack where desired sothat it will Vseparate one sheet or two sheets or four sheets or anydesired number of sheets at each operation.

In order that the sheets 10 may be accurately selected and fed by thismachine, it is important that the sheets be terraced on the selectingdisk 15 as seen in Fig. 1. To ell'ect this result a ingcr 40 is securedon the end of a pushrod 41 that has bearings in the right hand side ofthe casing 12 and the frame bar 42 secured to the right hand sidethereof by bolts 43, and the downward rear portion of the bar 44extendingl from the upper part of said bar 42. The push barpis operatedforward by the yoke bar 45 which is. fulcrumed at. 46 in the lower endof bar`42 and at its lower end. carries a roller 47 whichk rides on acam 43 on they shaft 50 securedy to the frame 51 which supports thesheet magazine bottom plate 1.4 by bolts 52.

The ba-r 45 is bent so that its outer end extendsupwardly `and'fitsl'loosely astride force the lower few-sheets inthe staekto the leftor forward 'on the selecting disk substantially as shown in Fig. 1. Saidfinger 40 and rod 41 vare returned by theV spring on rod/41 actingbetween the threaded outer end of rod 41.

stationary arm and. the nut 56 on "the It is importantV also that thesheets 10 be held fiat on-the selecting disk 1f5rand ata predetermineddistance from its .centeixi Therefore, there i's-'a spring finger 60secured on a-nd coi-led about the shaft 20 of'disk 15 so as to` rotatetherewith. Finger VG() is a stiff wire with its middle portion restingon plate 15 and its extreme outer end is Vcurved upward as shown in Fig.1,`so thatV the finger 60 vwill engage the y few lower sheets 1()v andhold them in a sloping or terraced position as shown in Fig. 1. is, thelowest'sheet in the' stack will extend further'toward the center oflthe', selecting disk 15 than the sheet abovei-t, andthe second sheetwill extend further toward said center than the .sheetfabove it,so'thatthe lower sheets of the stack are substantially:

tapered inward in the form ofa terrace so the lower sheets extendfurther inward toward the center of the selecting disk 15 which' rendersthem more readily selected by the selecting plateA 31 and point 36 ofthe revolving disk`15 at each revolution thereof. Said selecting disk 15continuously 're- Volves and the selecting point 31 is located slightlyfurther from the center of disk 15 then the sheets and so ittravelssubstantially tangentially of vthestaek of sheets 10 and passes betweenthe two lower sheets thereof as shown in Fig. 3, if the machine be setfor feeding single sheets or between the second and third sheets if itbe set as in Fig. 4 for feeding two sheets at each operation.

As the disk 15 further revolves the select-V ing plate 31 moves in justabove the selected sheets and bends down the nez-n'portion of slot 30,as shown in Fig. 7,and thenthe portion of disk 15 following slot 30 willbe abovethe selected sheet whilethe portion YinY advance of slot 3-0ywill continue below the sheet. To render this effective, the advanceportion of theselecting plate is about a T hat f han' inch thick.' as.the selecting dei@ 1 5 further revolves, the separating finger '65gradually is moved by said disk above fthe depressed selected sheet `orsheets and it gradually more rand more bends said vsheets down totheposition showninFig. 5. VThe right hand edge Yof the; sheet orsheetsthus bent down -isstill frictionally held between the stackaboveandy thebottom fingers iSOof theinagazine and the left hand edge of saidsheet or sheets is 4brought within the grasp of the vcircular feedfrollfand segmental feed roll: 67 aboveit. As said iArolls are furtheractuated in the direction of thearrow shown in Fig.15, theirperipheries-fwill engage as shown in Fig. 6 and feed the sheet or sheetsdownward andto thefl'eft oven plate/68s and between said-rollers 69 andv7 0 and thereby on to-thedie 11 or other :treating means or machine.

Thefmain. frame 51 which supports the magazine and parts. heretoforeV'described has mounted in itnotonly the-shaft 510 butvalsoA theV shafts71 and 72 on which lthe feedv rolls 66 and 67 arevmounted, and-the.shafts'73 and 74 on-which the `feedrolls {S9-and 70 are mounted. Theshafts272 and 73. are adjustably mounted as shown. The main drive whichVshaft 26 carries a sprocket Wheel 77 drives theV sprocket-chain 7 6. andit, in turn,

drives. the sprocket YwheelY 7 9 secured on the shaft/81whichalso. iismounted in frame 51, l

andl said shaft 81 carries gear 82, (see Fig.

8-).Whichdrives gear 83 on shaft 74 and gear 83 drives gea-r 84 on shaft73. Also gear 82 drives gear 84 0n shaft 71 and gear 84 drives thelargev gear 86v on shaft 5 0, as seen in Fig 8; f

In operation, Ythe stacked in themagazine 12 and are supported partiallyby bottom fingersSO extendingin` wardly from the wall of the magazinecasing 12, as indicated in Fig. 2, butthe stackis chiefly supported onthe right hand portion of the selecting disk l15. As said selecting diskrevolves the selecting point 36 on plate 31 selects one or more bottomsheets as indicated in and-14, and divides them from the stack, and theportion ofthem adjacent the disk l15 vis turned down so as to extendthrough slot 3v() of disk 15 as seen in Fig. 7, and as the disk 15rotatesV further the spring Gfnrther bends downward and separates saidselected sheets and brings them to the position shown inF-ig. 5, wherethey are grasped by the rollers 66 and 67Y and fed through the rollers73 and 75 to the die 1l of the machine for shaping' or otherwisetIeatiiigtlieni.

The paper sheets at the lower end o-f the stack lie fiat -upon the disk15 and are positioned bythe pushing finger40 on the right hand sidelandthe curved finger 160 onthe left Yhand side so that the 'lowersheets are terraced somewhat-for the-ready entrance bepaper sheets 10are `-at eachroperation of'thedisk 15. thickness of the sheets bechanged, the matween them of the selecting point 36 and plate 3l of thevdisk 15; The adjustabilityA of said plate 31 and point 14 enables'themachine to select one or more than one sheet chine will select andseparate them satisactorily because the selecting plate 3l and point 36can be correspondingly adjusted.

It is also important that the selecting sheet 15 be opposite to andappreciably spaced from the stack supporting lingers 80', so as sheets,it will simultaneouslygpress four or five dishes at each operation asWell as one.

Since the purchase of such paper dishes and the like is in enormouslylarge quantities by ten cent stores and the like, this feature of theinvention is valuable.

The invention. claimed is:

l. In. a machine of the class described, a magazine adaptedto contain astackof separate flexible sheets of paper stock, means at the bottom ofthe magazine for supporting at one side thereof the bottom sheet and gsaid stack of sheets, a rotatable sheet selectinfr disk on which theopposite portion of the bottom sheet and stack of sheets is supported inflat position, sheet selecting means on said disk revoluble by saiddisk, substantially tangentially of the stack and adaptedy to vpassabove the sheet or sheets to be selected from the bottom of the stackand depress the same, and means Jfor adjusting the angular relation ofsaid selecting means to'said disk for selecting and separating sheets.of varying thickness and a varying number of sheets at each rotation ofthe disk.

2. In a machineof the class'de'scribed, a magazine adapt-ed to contain astack ot sepirate circular, flexible sheets of paper stock,

a` rotatable sheet selecting disk on which at one side of the center aportion of the bottoniA sheet and the stack is supported in llatposition and having a. substantially radial. slotted opening from theperiphery almost lo the center ot said disk, and said disk being mountedin such position that said slotted opening will revolve substantiallytangential of and pass through the stack, a select- Y. ing plate securedto the following edge ot said slotted portion ot the disk with aselecting point near the inner end thereof kadapted at each revolutionot the disk to pass above and separate one or more sheets as desiredfrom the bottom of the stack, and the por- It the v tion of the disk inadvance of said slot will pass under the selected sheets, and means foradjusting the angular position of said selecting plate and point withreference to said disk so as to 'adapt it to selectand separate varyingnumbers of sheets and'sheets of varying thickness.

3. In a machine of the class described, a lmagazine adapted to contain.a stack .of separate sheets of paper stock, a rotatable disk adapted tosupport upon it at one side of its center a bottom sheet and a stack ofsheets, sheet selecting means on said disk revoluble substantiallyvtangentially of said stack and adapted at each revolution of the diskto pass above one or more sheets of the said stack as desired andseparate them from the bottom of thestack,'and means for positioning thesheets near the bottom of the stack so that they will be insubstantially terraced position on said disk for facilitating theselecting and separation thereof by the disk.

el. In a machine ofthe character described.

a magazine adapted to contain a stackof separate flexible sheets ofpaper, means at the bottom of the magazine'iior supporting one sideportion of the bottom sheet' and stack of sheets, a rotatable sheetselecting disk on. which the opposite portionl of' the bottom sheet andstack is supported, means carried by said disk revoluble tangentially ofsaid stack of sheets and adapted to pass above and separate one or moresheets as desired from thebottom of the stack and to depress the same ateachrevolution of the disk, an inclined pushing linger forv engaging afew sheetsat the bottom of the stack and pushing them toward the centerofsaid disk so that .they will lie thereon in substantially terracedposition; i

5. In a machine of the character described, a magazine adapted tocontain a stack ot separate flexible sheets of paper, moans at thebottom of the magazine for supporting one side portion of the bottomsheet and A stack of sheets, aA rotatable sheet selecting disk on whichthe oppositeY portion ol' vthe bottom sheet and stack is supported,means carried by said disk revoluble tangentially of said stack ofsheets and adapted to pass above and separate one or more sheets asdesired from the bottom of the stack and to depress ther same at eachrevolution of the disk, a linger revoluble with said disk and inclinedupwardly and away from the center thereof for stopping a few ot thelower sheets of said stack at the proper distance away from the centerof the disk and holding them flat on said disk.

In witness whereof,

aliixed my signature.

PAUL R. SIMMONS.

I have hereunto

